In January this year, European stainless crude steel production decreased by three percent to 670,000 metric tons, with German production decreasing by 19 percent, Sweden's production down four percent and Slovenia's production up 24 percent, all compared to January 2013, according to the Stainless Steel Report April 2014 issued by Germany-based service center Damstahl.
Meanwhile, in the given month European stainless steel mills slightly reduced production in spite of improved demand in Europe. The reasons for the decrease were stated as the final shutdown of operations at Outokumpu and the end of supplies from Italy and Finland to Outokumpku Alamaba.
According to the report, in the first quarter of this year European stainless crude steel demand showed an increase due to restocking in an empty supply chain. In the given period, the estimated production volume of the German construction sector increased by over 40 percent compared to the previous quarter. Meanwhile, VDA expects that in 2014 passenger car production in Germany will increase by two percent to 5.55 million units, while German passenger car exports are expected to rise by two percent to 4.28 million vehicles, both year on year.